The primary sources of the Smithsonian document the history of art, culture, music, design, flight, space exploration, science and technology, landscapes and gardens, and native cultures in the United States, as well as the long history of the Smithsonian itself.

Discover archival collections related by topic and/or by names of persons, families, businesses, and organizations regardless of where the collection lives within the incredibly vast resources of the Smithsonian.

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Finding Aids

Archival finding aids, also sometimes called collection guides, are the key to unlocking information in SOVA. Each unique archival collection has a finding aid that provides the user with varying levels of descriptive detail about the collection, such as creator, biographical or historical note, content, subjects, names, forms of materials, how the collection is arranged, the context in which the collection was created, related collections in individual repositories and across the Smithsonian, provenance, where the collection is housed, and how to access the collection. Digitized content from each collection is also accessed via links provided in the collection's finding aid.

Finding aids are essential research and discovery tools that will help you understand the content and context of an individual collection and whether that collection will satisfy your research needs.

These records comprise the working files of the JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, the journal of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. They are divided within each
issue by the individual article or submission. They include correspondence concerning the articles, drafts of the articles, reviews of the articles, as well as copies of illustr...

This accession consists of published research articles written by Richard E. Ahlborn during his tenure as curator with the Division of Community Life, with earlier
articles dating back to when he was curator in the Division of Ethnic and Western Cultural History and the Division of Cultural History, respectively. Also included are some
ar...

This accession consists of published research articles and an exhibition catalog ("Castings of Faith: Old Russian Copper Icons and Crosses from the Kunz Collection")
written by Richard E. Ahlborn during his tenure as curator with the Division of Community Life, with earlier articles dating back to when he was curator in the Division of
Et...

Found In

The papers document Norniella's life and career in the advertising field, and her Ole Television Network, and include business records, photographs, scrapbooks, photograph albums, advertising, clippings and articles, awards, newsletters, and publicity materials.

The Ken Druse Garden Photography Collection contains approximately 45,000 film transparency and 35mm slide images, dating from 1978 to 2005, of gardens, garden features, and flora photographed by garden writer and photographer Ken Druse. The photographic images document numerous private and public gardens throughout the United States and a few in Canada. Many have appeared in Druse's own books and articles as well as those by other writers. Approximately half of the collection is arranged according to specific garden, the other half by garden feature. A small portion of the collection consists of slide lectures given by Druse. Some images are identified with general captions and dates. Images documenting specific gardens are sometimes accompanied by handwritten notes, garden descriptions, and articles. Annotations appearing on certain images indicate the publication in which they appeared. The collection includes 'outtakes' or bracketed images that give insight into Druse's photo shooting process.

Yolande Betbeze was crowned Miss America in September, 1950. During and after her reign she was influential in both the Civil Rights and Feminist movements. Her papers document her reign as Miss America, her life after Miss America, and the Miss America pageant itself.